As usual, the trip started with the long flight to Vegas. Marti had left earlier and rented a car and met us in the airport. We drove as far as the Virgin River Gorge before fatigue set in (it was 4am eastern time ...) The campground closed at 10pm so we drove up a dirt road and flopped down among the cow pies.
Off to Zion for a short hike to the scene of a long-ago epic at Pine Creek (a slot canyon where I took Eric down at 4 years old and we could barely get back out of) and then we drove through Bryce where Jay had a great time hiking to Queen's Garden. Eventually on to Escalante and finally the trail head for Coyote Gulch. The problem was that it was almost dark and we still had 3 miles of hiking to the campsite! It was nearly a full moon and a perfect night so Marti and I packed up as fast as we could. We headed across the slickrock by moonlight - no need for flashlights. The kids were doing fine with their backpacks but eventually they started to slow down. As we neared the edge of the canyon, I heard a faint buzz - almost a chirp. It was an itty bitty rattlesnake! Everyone had a peek and was amused by it's cuteness. On to the "crack in the rock" - the path down to the bottom of the canyon. We took off the packs and handed them down while squeezing through the narrow crack (except for me - I like the slab on the right). Almost there! The canyon was wonderful by moonlight and the trail down the "sand dune" was easy to follow. Jay was unhappy with the sand in his shoes but Eric was in a good mood. We camped as soon as we reached the creek - just minutes from the rim. Nice camp: nobody around, great views, running water, and a level spot.
A lazy morning - everyone was ready to spend a day doing nearly nothing. We discovered that it wasn't safe to leave juice boxes cooling in the stream - the river (stream?) gods made off with a good part of our orange juice supply. After breakfast, my brothers (Jim, Alan, and Doug) all arrived - they had driven in from Denver to join us. We all headed downstream to the Escalante River and then up that to Stevens Arch. Hiking the river was sort of slow going upstream - the water was about a foot deep and the current was fairly swift. The kids were having fun - we decided to play in the mud instead of hiking further up with my brothers. We spent a lot of time burying people in the mud - at one point Eric got almost completely stuck and it took a long time to get him out. Eventually we headed back to camp - Jim and Doug went back to town while Alan stayed the night with us.
After another comfortable night in our camp by the sand dune, we packed up and started heading upriver. Great views everywhere! We passed lush springs dripping down the walls, waterfalls, arches, a natural bridge, high walls, abandoned rincons, huge overhangs, potholes. This was what Utah is all about! Jim and Doug caught up and we hiked together for a while but soon they forged ahead with Alan. They were heading back to Denver the next morning while we were to stay another night in the canyon. Jay hiked most of the way barefoot in the stream. By the end of the day he was getting a bit pooped but still having a good time. As we approached Jacob Hamlin arch Eric got excited - he remembered this well from 3 years ago. The campsite under the gargantuan overhang on the outside of the arch was empty so stayed just where Eric had wanted to.
It was pretty late but we had time to eat a leisurely dinner and enjoy the seats carved in the hard sand of the riverbank. Someone spent a lot of time sculpting chairs with cup holders where we could enjoy our meal. Jay had bounced back from the hike and wanted to go adventuring so he joined me in hiking up over the top of the arch - this is a bit technical and very exposed but he did just fine. We had great views of the arch, the canyon, and the setting sun. That was it for the day - back to camp and our sleeping bags.
The morning dawned cloudy. After breakfast, we noticed a light rain falling in the exposed ground about 50 feet from camp. We were under the overhang so it remained completely dry in camp but away from the protection of the undercut it was starting to get wet. After a bit we heard water falling heavily - it wasn't rain but rather a waterfall that formed in a small stream on the slickrock above. The kids were really excited to see a heavy stream of water pouring down just 100 feet from the tent! In spite of the rain I wanted to get going - I was worried about the roads. The climb up the slickrock finger next to the arch was a bit hairy on the wet rock but it soon stopped raining and we didn't get too wet. The rain brought out hundreds of big black crickets to amuse the boys as we hiked over the sand to the metal tank where my brothers had left our car.
After a victory stop in Escalante for junk food, we headed south for Arizona. We drove south past Grosvenor Arch and along the Coxcomb - very pretty. We stopped for a short hike in Hackberry canyon, a small slot canyon right next to the road, and the kids had fun chucking rocks into the huecos on the canyon wall.
As we past Page, it was apparent that we had just enough time to indulge in some "Windshield Tourism" at the Grand Canyon. It was a pretty drive and we hiked just a bit even though it was really cold. It was cloudy but some rays of sun came out to light up parts of the canyon. After seeing the sunset, we rolled on to Flagstaff, land of cheap motels.
One of Eric's goals on the trip was to visit Slide Rock in Sedona. It's a natural water slide that he's been to before and really wanted to see again. So after stopping at WalMart for swim gear and yet another #%*!@# gameboy game off we went. It wasn't crowded: the water was COLD! Marti and I decided to stay dry but nothing could keep Eric out of the water. Jay waded a little but refused to jump into the main slide. Eric had a blast and we stayed a couple of hours watching the kids goof around. Then on to Sedona.
After lunch, Eric found a store selling toy dogs and, even though he has about 100 at home, he had to buy one more to replace the one he left on the plane. So we now have "Sedona", the wiener dog, as a souvineer of the trip. Even though it was getting late, we headed out to the trailhead for the Mace, the local classic climb.
The Mace is 5 pitches with two 5.9 sections and some other amazing stuff. It's a free-standing pillar and requires a really scary lean / jump to reach the top. The kids complained all the way up the trail but on the rock everything went just fine. The first pitch is mostly easy except for an overhanging limestone band (5.7) in the middle of the sandstone. Jay needed to be pulled over it but Eric and Marti did fine. The second pitch is the hardest one for me: a 5.9 hand jam / chimney. The hard part is short though and I made it with one minor slip on the soft sandstone. I had to haul Jay over this part but he climbed most of the rest of the pitch on his own. Eric and Marti also had a bit of trouble but eventually made it. We were only about 140' from the top but there were actually three more pitches. It was getting late - we could see the Mace casting a very long shadow - so we traversed right through a notch over to the other side of the rock where there are rap anchors. There was still a bit of light on the ledge so we all posed for pictures and then rapped on down. No summit but still a fun climb. Even Jay sort of enjoyed it. That evening we drove to Payson and grabbed another cheap motel room.
The next day was sort of a rest day. Our "Canyons of Arizona" book talked about a nice canyon with running water near Payson so we head over for a look. Christopher Creek was small but fun: pools, rocks, cold water, small slides. Jay refused to get wet - the water was a bit cold - but the rest of us swam, jumped, and slid in the pools. A very leisurely day! No time for anything else so we drove through Phoenix (missed seeing Tim) to Tucson. Colleen and Tom showed off the new baby (very cute!) and they generously agreed to guard some extra stuff so we could pack more people into the car. We headed out and arrived in the West Stronghold around 1am and camped at the spot we found.
Moooooo. Moooooooooooooooooo. Mooooooooooooooooooooooo. Near dawn we realized we've flopped in the middle of a large herd of cows. Marti and I were in a tent so it wasn't that bad but Eric was on the ground watching cows walk nearly over him. He wisely ran for the car (where Jay was sleeping) to wait for Marti and I to get moving. Breakfast was in Bisbee. I dropped everyone at the copper mine for the mine tour and headed for scenic Safford to pick up Sarah and Becky. Sarah is a friend from back in our Tucson days. She's blind but that doesn't stop her from climbing with us. Her daughter Becky is the same age as Jay and seriously into Pokemon.
It turned out to be a long drive - especially when I ran out of gas on the interstate (fortunately friends of Sarah found us and gave us all the help we needed) but finally we all were together again. We drove to the Isle of You, a sport climbing area in the stronghold near the place we had camped.
The approach was short and easy for Sarah. I started out of a 5.8 sport line with Sarah while Marti belayed Eric on a 5.6. Becky and Jay weren't interested in climbing - they were having too much fun together. Both climbs were less than successful. I made it up OK but it was very hard for Sarah - the climb was steep and the moves were complex with lots of strange body positions and hard to find holds. Sarah battled up over half way before we decided it was a bit much for her first climb of the trip. Meanwhile, Eric had found that the crux of the 5.6 was pretty hard (seemed harder than 5.6 to Marti!) and the bolt was placed by someone a bit taller than Eric. Instead of trying to do the clip in the middle of a hard move, Eric downclimbed (with Marti's advice) to the previous bolt and lowered off. Marti finished the lead and Eric did the climb on toprope.
It was getting late - there was just enough time for Marti to climb the 5.8 and rescue the draws at the top before sunset. Back to the car and off to the main camping area at the West Stronghold for the night.
During the night, a couple of cars came through looking for the "Beanfest". It had been postponed but a lot of people evidently hadn't gotten the message. In the morning, I got up early and hiked up to the domes above camp. I'd never been back there before and it was quite impressive - I still have a lot of climbing to do in the Stronghold. Unfortunately, most of the approaches were a bit too much for Sarah and Becky. The only place that seemed reasonable was Paleface dome - home to 3 bolted friction routes - perfect for Sarah. As we ate breakfast a couple of huge vans topped with ropes and gear pulled in. I asked Eric to see where they were headed.
Eric: Where are you going to climb? Dudes in vans: Paleface slab. Where are you going? Eric: Somewhere you aren't at!So that crippled the plan - there was no way we could have cut in front of them. New theory: Mount Lemmon.
This worked pretty well. Marti took Sarah and Becky and Jay to the wall at the Wimpy Point Overlook to toprope while Eric and I got to be hardcore climbers. First route: Hitchcock (5.7). Eric backed off the lead but ran right up on toprope. Then the Rich and Dave Route (5.8). Big fun but the crux really seemed hard! Finally, we toproped a 5.10- over by Wind Wall. Eric had to do a few hangs but made it OK. Meanwhile, everyone else had fun at the overlook. Jay and Becky didn't climb much - they were happy to play together while Marti and Sarah did all the work. Unfortunately, they managed to lose a treasured Pokemon book. Life sucks when you're 7 years old! Then back to Tucson for dinner and on to camping at Molino Basin.
It was Easter and we started with an egg hunt for the kids in the campground. Then up to the summit of Lemmon and on to Rap Rock. A sign at the climbers trail said that Rap Rock was open (but other rocks were closed for falcon nesting) so we were all set. After the trip, I found out that it actually was closed - the signs were out of date. This meant that we had the place mostly to ourselves - only one other party of the rock.
Eric and I were way in front of the rest of the crowd. Jay and Becky didn't want to climb or even hike and were taking their time. When Eric and I arrived at the saddle behind the rock, we had time to waste. I have never done the famed rappel off the overhanging side of the rock so I went up to the summit and took a look. I had a 60 meter (200 foot) rope and I seemed to remember that that was long enough to reach the ground. I tied one end to the bolts and dropped the other into the void. It was hard to see what was happening at the end of the rope but it certainly touched the rock. There seemed to be a big ledge roughly where the rope ended but off to the side a bit. Eric was keen to do a big rappel so I pulled up the rope, threw a beefy knot in the end, and sent Eric on down. Marti had just arrived and went to see what we were up to - she grabbed the camera and took some pictures of Eric hanging well out from the rock. I watched a bit and then heard Eric yelling "Hey Dad!". Seems like the rope wasn't quite long enough! Just in case, I managed to lengthen the rope a bit but this didn't help much. I wasn't in a place to hear Eric well so I ran down the back to have a look at the situation. There he was, dangling at the very end of the rope with another 50' of cliff below him. Marti wasn't very happy with the situation but Eric thought things it was pretty funny - no problem!!
We didn't want Eric to try anything crazy so I decided to throw him the rope Marti had been carrying. The ledge I had seen from the top was about 30 feet to his right. I was able to get to with about 15' of Eric and throw him a rope and then climbed to the big ledge and pulled him over. No problem! He might have been able to get there himself by swinging but this was certainly a safer way to do it. All in all, it wasn't the smartest thing I've done with Eric but everything worked out OK in the end.
This whole mini-epic ate up a lot of time - it was already after noon and we still weren't on the climb. I hiked up to get the rope while everyone else headed down. After I returned from the summit, I found everyone hiking down the wrong side of the rock! This trail is easier than the regular route for a while but has a rappel in it near the bottom. We didn't want to go back up so we set up the rap and started sending people down. Unfortunately, Becky was completely against this. She hasn't been on a big rock before and was completely freaked out by the stance at the top of the rappel. There was only one thing to do: split up. I left Marti with Eric and Sarah and told them to head for Bender-Axen. I decided to take Jay and Becky back to the car and then into Tucson (Debray's house) and then come back to meet everyone at the top of the rock.
Once we turned back Becky and Jay were in a good mood again. On the hike up we caught a horned toad and the kids thought it was way cool. They played Pokemon all the way down the road and Debray was surprised to see us arrive slightly before we had said we would. Unfortunately I had to tell them that 3 of our party were missing and I would have to get them so there was no chance of all going out to dinner! They graciously agreed to keep the kids (who had a wonderful time playing with Arun and Rena) while I drove up the mountain yet again.
Back to the top: it was too soon to hope that Marti was already back but I hoped it wouldn't be long. It was getting late and the wind had kicked up a bit. On down - no sign of them yet. I eventually arrived at the rock - where were they? I traversed out onto the face and shouted. There they were - still on the last pitch! I went back to the top and looked in an alcove just below the summit and saw Eric belaying Marti and Sarah. It turned out that the first pitch was pretty hard for everyone and took a while. Marti also stayed too far left on the second pitch and got into some more 5.7 climbing. Everyone had been having fun but it just took longer than expected. Eric led the last two pitches up the chickenheads in good style and everyone was OK but cold. It was almost sunset and we hurried down and the back up to the car. Eric wantredto find out what it was like to be blind so he did the last 1/2 mile with his eyes closed - I led him while Marti led Sarah.
When we finally returned to Tucson it was late (as usual!). We missed seeing Alan, Becky's father, at Debray's and the Debray kids were already in bed. We thanked them (Thanks! Thanks!! Thanks!!!), grabbed a bit to eat, and then rolled on out. Sarah and Becky went to Sarah's sister then Marti and I picked up our stuff at Tom and Colleen's (more thanks!!). Sadly we didn't get to see the baby again. On to a cheap Motel 6 halfway to Phoenix.
We took a lazy day driving to Las Vegas. We checked into the Silverton around 5 and spent the evening taking in the weirdness of Vegas. We managed to find Lara - another climber from Yale - and her boyfriend Martin at the casino that evening and developed a plan for the next few days.
Somewhat rested, we headed out for the "big family climb" day of the trip. The objective: Solar Slab, a 14 pitch 5.6. We got a fairly early start and were at the parking lot just after 7am. Jay wasn't too keen to hike or climb but we managed get him across the desert anyway. There were flowers everywhere - the desert was in bloom. The hike wasn't that bad and we were ready to climb. Marti led the first pitch; I climbed with Jay. Everything went well - Jay was doing fine once we started climbing. The pitches up the gully were great - not grungy like I was expecting. Best of all, most of the belays were in shady alcoves deep inside the gully. We moved fairly well for a party of four. Jay didn't have any problems and everyone was in a good mood. We reached the big ledge atop the gully around 11:40. About 9 more pitches (all ones I had done before) with no shade loomed above. Unfortunately we were almost out of water. It was in the 90s: the high in Vegas that day was 99 - unusually hot for April. There really was no question of finishing the route - we would have cooked up there. Plus, it was easy to back off at this point - good raps all the way down. We lazed around and explored a bit and then started the trip back down.
We fell into a smooth rhythm on the descent: I usually went first with Jay dangling between my legs. Jay would throw the rope off the knobs and ledges as we went - saved me a lot of time! - and Marti and Eric followed quickly. It didn't take too long to get back to the base. Unfortunately Jay took a slip on the hike back and lost some skin - this put him in a bad mood; he didn't talk all the way back to the car. Back in Vegas we treated ourselves to 4 big slurpees and lounged around the rest of the afternoon, hiding from the sun.
The next day Marti and the boys stayed in Vegas while I drove up to Zion to climb with Dave Fay. Lara and Martin wanted to stay in Vegas so I was on my own. Our somewhat hazy plan was to meet either the previous evening or early in the morning. I didn't feel like driving up the evening before so I left Vegas well before dawn and arrived in Zion around 9. Dave had left a note for me - when I finally found the campsite there was Amy (Dave's wife) and her mother. What about Dave??? He had bailed on me!!!! They had just dropped him off on the East Rim trail - he was sure I wouldn't show up!!! (Plus, he had wanked his shoulder bouldering and couldn't climb so he wasn't too worried about missing the day with me ...).
I buzzed to the trailhead and hiked up full speed to catch that weenie Dave. Every 10 or 15 minutes I yelled "Dave! Dave!" and listened to the echos. I passed countless tourists in my relentless hike up to the East Rim. But there was no answer - no Dave! Finally I reached the top of the canyon about 2000' feet above the trailhead. Still no Dave. I figured I might as well go to the overlook and see the sights before heading down. Then, arriving at the very end of the trail, I saw DAVE! He had also been hauling ass and our timing resulted in the maximum possible amount of hiking for me. I gave Dave a hard time for running off without me. He had heard his name echoing off the cliffs but had ignored it (the weasel!). We took the hike down a good deal slower - all the way people asked "Is that Dave?" or "Did you find Dave?".
Back at the car, we made a new plan. The intended route was out of the question since Dave couldn't climb but he generously offered to be a belay slave. Dave had never been over to the north end of the park so we decided to head back to the scene of a prior epic with Mike Soo: sport climbing in Kolob.
The drive sucks but the hike from the Kolob road into the canyon was just as pretty as ever. Dave was justly impressed with the other end of Zion. Nobody else was around - total solitude. Finally we arrived at the alcove at the far end of the canyon. The routes there are all severely overhanging lines of holes (huecos) leading up the otherwise blank wall of the alcove. All of these lines are bolted - the "guidebook" shows them as all being 5.12. Perhaps this is a ploy to keep normal climbers out but it didn't work on us. The line we were on was only 5.9 or so and one of the coolest sport climbs around. Dave took lots of pictures as I slowly worked up the overhanging buckets. Last time I bailed after 3 bolts. This time I reached the 5th bolt before becoming mentally wasted when a hold broke. I really should have kept going - only 3 more bolts to the top - but I was tired from the hiking. Unfortunately Dave couldn't even try the climb so that was it for the day - we hiked back out and met Amy at the trailhead to pick up Dave. We parted company (thanks, Dave!) and I headed back for Vegas. I found Marti and the boys walking down the strip so I gave them a ride to the casino and we lounged around for the evening.
Marti had to fly out but Grandpa and Uncle Alan arrived to help with the kids. Today the plan was to take Lara and Martin on some big trad climb while the kids played in Vegas again. The only problem was the heat: nobody (including me) wanted to bake in the 100 degree temps. So we decided to head to Black Velvet after the shade hits. We left the car around noon and hiked up to the main wall. I wanted to bag two routes at once: the Gobbler, a 3 pitch direct start to Wild Turkeys, and the Yellow Brick Road, another Turkeys variation. My secret plan was to get Martin to lead the 5.10 bolted pitch on the Gobbler - I had rapped down it many times and noticed that the bolts were old and far apart.
The first pitch is nice bolted slab climbing. It seemed easy for me and we were soon at the base of the crack system that marks the route. This is the "Gobbler": a pinch that often gobbles ropes of rapellers or leaders. The crack pitch proved to be big fun - just a couple of actual moves in the crack - the rest was on the wall to the right. Lara enjoyed it but Martin elected to do hard face moves on the side rather than the crack climb. (Wimpy sport climber!). But Martin then redeemed himself by taking the 5.10 face pitch up to the Wild Turkeys ledge. Instead of being a runout horrorshow on bad bolts, there were nice shiny new bolts every 10 feet or so. So much for my secret plan!
The next part of the grand strategy was to climb backwards along the 3rd pitch of Turkeys (a traverse) and then up Yellow Brick Road. No problem traversing but I was drained and decided to back off after the first yellow bolt. What a wimp!! I guess I have to save something for next time ... Anyway, I bailed and then two raps took us back down. It was getting late so we headed out to Vegas. Lara and Martin left for Bishop the next day. Grandpa had gotten a penthouse room (24th floor!) at one of the casinos in downtown Vegas - this kids were impressed. They had spent the day at the Circus-Circus theme-park (again!) and we had a nice evening together.
Eric was my last remaining partner now that Marti and Lara were gone. He really wanted to do something with a short approach so I gave in and picked a route I had already done before - Dark Shadows. Eric and I hiked ahead while Grandpa, Alan, and Jay followed at their own pace. We got a late start - it was after 2 when we finally left the car. Eric remained fairly cheerful during the hike - it was certainly a lot shorter than other approaches we had done in Vegas. Arriving at the route we saw one party on the third pitch. A large crowd at the base seemed to be slowly gearing up for the route but we willing to let Eric and I go ahead - what a deal!
Eric and I flew up the route. Eric was in a good mood and stopped for lots of photos. He didn't have any trouble with the climbing and we made good time. He got to tell his climbing "war stories" to a woman at the top of the second pitch - she was rapping as we climbed up. Listening to him talk, you would think he goes climbing every weekend! On the final rappel we went in tandem, carrying the rope ends so they wouldn't fall into the pond at the base of the route. All in all an excellent day. The rest of the gang turned back just before the climb so we never saw Jay or Grandpa. One last night in Vegas and the trip was over. The kids were ready to be home again - Marti met us in Hartford and that was it for spring break 2000.